“BE OPENED”
Fr. Marcel Emeka Okwara CSsR
Homily of the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church
Memphis, TN 38107
September 6, 2009
In today’s Gospel taken from Mark 7: 31-37, Jesus healed a deaf man. As soon as Jesus arrived at the district of Decapolis, people brought to him a deaf man who also had a speech impediment. His inability to hear anything may have been responsible for his speech impediment. Jesus did something different in the process of restoring the hearing and speaking ability of the needy man. He took the deaf man away from the crowd, put his finger into the man’s ears, and with spittle, he touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven from where shall our help comes from, Jesus groaned and said to him “Ephphatha!” which means “Be opened!” According to today’s gospel, the man’s ears opened immediately following the prayers of Jesus for him, his speech impediment was removed and he started speaking with ease.
Did you notice that Jesus did not say to the deaf man “Hear!” or “Speak?” Rather he used the expressions “Be opened!” This is an indication of how we are to live. We are to be opened to the Word of God. Psalm 119: 11 says “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you.” And in verse 105 of the same Psalm 119, the Psalmist declares “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” In the gospel of John 6: 63 Jesus says “The words I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.” We are to be opened to the Word of God- the Word that is a lamp to our feet; the word that is a light for our path; the words that are spirit and life; the words that strengthen us to avoid sinning against God. When we open up ourselves to God, when we open up ourselves to the Word of God, God enables us to open up ourselves to each other. We will be able to see Jesus in rags.
I don’t think there is anybody in this Church that is deaf. Deafness is not a problem for most of us here. So today’s healing of the deaf man may not really interests some of us that much. But yet, Jesus uses the expression “Be opened!” Our problem may not be physical deafness. But we may be too busy to hear Jesus. With our ears wide open and able to hear what is said far away, we still are not able to hear the sweet voice of our Lord. Because of this kind of deafness, we are not able to recognize him in the events of our life. Some people are too busy making money that they don’t even have time to enjoy the houses they are so busy working to pay for. Some people are so busy with work, career etc that they don’t spend much time at home with their children. They don’t even have time to be alone with self.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta once gave a speech about her work with the sick, the dying and the orphans in India. Afterwards, someone who seemingly wanted to assist her in her work asked “You have done so much to make the world a better place. What can I do? Mother Teresa smiled and simply said, “Love your children.” The questioner was not pleased with her answer and wanted to raise another question but Mother Teresa interrupted and said, “There are other things you can do, but that is the best. Love your children. Love your children as much as you can. Cater for them, be there for them. Listen to them. That is the best.” Parents give money to their children, pay their tuition fees, provide accommodation for them and other material things but good parents give their children something more. “Be opened” to the needs of your children.
If children live with criticism,
They learn to condemn. If children live with hostility,
They learn to fight.
If children live with ridicule,
They learn to be shy.
If children live with shame,
They learn to feel guilty
On the other hand when we uplift and encourage children we help them for life:
If children live with tolerance,
They learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement,
They learn confidence.
If children live with praise,
They learn to appreciate.
If children live with fairness,
They learn justice.
If children live with security,
They learn to have faith.
If children live with approval,
They learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance and friendship,
They learn to find love in the world.
We are so busy that life is slipping by at a very fast rate and we need to slow it down. We are so busy that we don’t even see or notice others. We don’t notice the teeming number of the not-haves in our society. As a nation, we seem to be deaf to the crying and mourning of those crying for a helping hand. We seem to have been deafened by the huge and massive wealth in the nation that we seem not to hear the voices of those who have not benefitted from this massive wealth. The unfounded fear of losing capitalism has deafened us and impaired our speech. We no longer speak the language of the Spirit which is love. Those who don’t speak the language of the Spirit- love, have speech impediment. They may be speaking clearly and hearing clearly, but as long as their speech is not the speech of the Spirit, they have speech impediment. If we don’t hear the voices of those on the margins of our society, we are deaf just like the man healed by Jesus today. We need to hear the healing voice of Jesus saying to us “Be opened!”
The healthcare debate going on in the country right now has exposed the bitterness and the evil that lies unchecked in some people’s heart and mind. The healthcare debate has exposed the spiritual and moral deafness of so many people who are deaf to hear the moaning and mourning of those without healthcare coverage. The early month of August was terrible. All sorts of things were said and done. Some people became unreasonably frantic and hysterical because they think that the healthcare reform will affect their status. When that issue was addressed, they became worried that illegal aliens will benefit from the reform as if they are not benefitting from the status quo. With all the wealth in this nation, many seem to be deaf to hearing the wailing voices of those sitting at the corners of our society watching helplessly while the rest of us enjoy. I have seen many rich Americans spend some of their millions in other poor nations. Some of them made names for themselves in doing that. America as a nation too doles out billions to help other poor nations. Don’t get me wrong, those are commending and plausible acts of charity. America is known for its generosity abroad. We have also seen our nation spend trillions of dollars in an unjust war in Iraq. The Washington Post on March 9, 2008 reported that the US government has spent $3 trillion on what it called “a failed war”. As a nation, we can spend any amount to prosecute a war, an unjust war for that matter. But when it comes to reforming our healthcare system so that it could accommodate the not-haves in our society, we call those trying to do that “socialists”. If what President Obama is trying to do is socialism, then I will welcome socialism.
In spite of the gains of capitalism, it has its downsides. As an economic and social system, capitalism is better than communism or socialism. But we should know that just as it creates the rich and the wealthy, it also creates the poor. The poor are citizens just like the rich. No matter what we do, we will always have the poor. Even Jesus in Gospel of Matthew 26: 27 says “The poor you will always have with you…” But it is the duty of any responsible and moral society and its government to cater for the poor. No human government can possibly make all the poor people wealthy, but it can at least lend a helping hand to the poor. It can at least make sure that the rights of everyone including the poor are protected and uphold. The ongoing healthcare debate has exposed the deep deafness of so many people. It should weigh heavily on our moral conscience if in a hospital someone is undergoing a $25,000 surgery while in another room, of the same hospital someone is rejected and denied of the same treatment because of his/her status- because he/she has no health insurance. Let the America that spends billions in helping other poor nations do the same to its citizens. If we are not able to hear the crying voices of help of so many in our society, then we are deaf just like the man cured today by Jesus. We have seen heated and spirited rallies at some of the town hall meetings. Someone who did not know that Africa is a continent injected the idea of death panel in the debate thereby setting what would have been a meaningful debate and dialogue into a show of panic, anger and sheer stupidity. Within all these, there is a background noise of resentment based on race. In the State of Missouri, a black woman was disgraced simply because she was carrying a poster of Rosa Parks. What worried me was the deafness of the crowd. The white man who ripped off the Rosa Parks’ poster the black woman had was applauded. The woman was literarily assaulted. She was later howled away by the police for standing up against her assaulter. Meanwhile in that same room, there were some white folks with posters that referred to the president by the “N” word. But no one seemed to care about that. We have heard some say that the healthcare bill is really not about healthcare, that it’s the president way to get reparations for black people. That is absolutely absurd! It is pure nonsense. What kind of reparation do you have to get sick first in order to get paid? We have heard some say that Obama hates the white people. Some said that white people are experiencing exactly what the black people experienced during the segregation. These kinds of comments suggest deafness and impairment of speech. To kill the healthcare reform, Sarah Palin with a head full of nothing claim that Obama wants to kill grandma. Unprintable names have been given to the president. People are simply throwing out words like socialism, fascism etc and comparing the president with Adolf Hitler. See, when you portray Obama as Hitler, you are saying he is evil. Think of Adolf Hitler. He was not just a fascist, he was a racial fascist. So to portray Obama as Hitler is to suggest that he is a racial fascist. Saying that raises a question like “What particular race is he going to obliterate? And since someone that Rush Limbaugh has said that Obama hates the white people, some white people will begin to think that the president wants to exterminate them. And those who say these things should realize that words have consequences. These are the kind of words that deepen division and hatred in our society. People forget that sickness, suffering and poverty do not discriminate. They are not friends of any race or people. We are all in it together. Anybody can be humbled by sickness and poverty. This is the time we should be facing serious issues that face us as a nation and not engage in racial paranoia. To kill the healthcare reform, some have claimed that it is a healthcare welfare. People are simply being unreasonable because when they hear of social spending for the have-nots like income support, housing support, nutrition support, or healthcare support, they simply think of Black people, Mexicans, and immigrants etc. It is absolutely annoying hearing people say “they want to take from us the hardworking people and give to the lazy ones”. And let me quickly say this, when someone says “Give me back my country, I want the country that the Founders envisioned” please tell the person that the country the Founders envisioned had slavery; there was slave trade and slaves as part of its system. That system cannot be said to be morally perfect and acceptable. We have moved beyond that stage and need to keep perfecting what needs to be perfected.
Sisters and brothers, Jesus healed the deaf man. Sometimes we can be deaf to life, to others and to Jesus. In 1 Kings 19, the story has it that prophet Elijah was in a cave, then he was told to go out and stand on the mountain before God. There was a hurricane but God was not in the hurricane. There was an earthquake but God was not in the earthquake. There was a fire but God was not in the fire. After the fire there was a gentle breeze. Immediately Elijah knew that God was in the gentle breeze so he went out to the entrance of the cave and covered his face. We also need gentle breezes in our life in order to hear Jesus speak to us. If we have noise, yelling and shouting as people were doing in some of the town hall meetings we will not be able to hear the Lord.
Before Jesus healed the deaf man in today’s gospel, he took him off by himself away from the crowd; he took him to a private place, looked up to heaven and then prayed for the man’s healing. We need to step aside sometimes in private with Jesus so that we can hear him speak to us. Be opened so that you can hear the language of the Spirit, and that language is love. True love demands that we think of others especially those at the bottom of the ladder of life. Remember the word JOY. It stands for:
J- Jesus
O- Others
Y- You.
Think of Jesus first, think of others secondly, then think of yourselves. This is the summary of Christian love and life.
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